


Keep your head up, you’re better than them

by Mega_Randomer



Category: Motorcycling RPF, Motorsport RPF
Genre: Bullying, Hurtful Behavior, Insecure Aleix, M/M, Protective Jorge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-09-24 23:28:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20366872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mega_Randomer/pseuds/Mega_Randomer
Summary: Jorge's been noticing the changes in Aleix's behavior and all he wants to do is find out what's wrong.





	Keep your head up, you’re better than them

**Author's Note:**

> Recently I’ve been having trouble with someone and she’s made me feel so small and worthless, that I needed to write this because no one that knows me even knows I write so that’s one thing she will not take away from me! If I have one piece of advice for anyone reading this, it’s don’t let people change you, you are all amazing the way you are!!
> 
> I don’t know who Aleix’s crew chief is and he’s probably a really nice guy but for the point of the story he’s the bad guy, so he’s going to have a random name and is not based on anyone in the current paddock.
> 
> Hope you enjoy, Comments and feedback are always loved xx

Jorge knew that it had been a long season for both of them but even with all the crashes and lack of technical developments for their bike, that didn’t explain Aleix’s distant behavior.

He had first started to notice a change in Aleix’s behaviour after Texas, they’d both ended up out of the race which always put a dampener on their weekends. Usually on the rare occasion that they both ended their race early, they would take one of their cars and drive off to explore the area, see what places they could find to relax away from all the teams and media. They had gone to beaches with secluded caves they wouldn’t be seen inside, hilltops that they had to walk miles to reach the top of but could look down and see anyone approaching miles away but their favourite type of place was finding a little village where there would be a little café that they could go inside and talk their evening away without worrying about people walking in and recognizing them (if anyone ever did notice them, they didn’t say anything, probably more confused as to what 2 MotoGP riders were doing over 50 miles from a circuit they were racing at only a couple of hours previous). 

After 2 hours they finally found a small diner, where they both settled down in one of the booths to order. Jorge settled for a meal and drink while Aleix just ordered a milkshake.

“Are you ok? Usually you order half of the menu” Jorge tried to joke while Aleix rested his head on his arms. 

“I’m just tired” Aleix’s yawn did nothing to ease Jorge’s confusion at the situation. He’d never known Aleix to turn down food, especially when they had a bad day Aleix would always find some kind of food that he would munch his way though. He’d also never know Aleix look this tired, like he could hardly hold his head up, he was always a bundle of energy and one of the few riders that even in a long race in extreme heat could take his helmet off and look like he hadn’t even raced a lap. 

“Did your crash hurt that much?” Jorge hadn’t had chance to see any replays so he could only assume that was affecting his fellow rider. 

“No, it was just a bad race” Aleix looked like he wanted to say more but chose not to.

“You know you can always talk to me, I’ll always be here for you” Jorge reached over to gently squeeze Aleix’s arm almost to assure he meant it. 

“I know” 

\------

The next change came at Jerez. Sunday nights after the race they would find their way to Jorge’s motorhome where they would snuggle together on his bed watching a film together, it had been their little tradition for nearly 5 years and usually Aleix would talk his way through the movie or tell Jorge what was going to happen before it played out on screen, but Jorge didn’t mind as that was part of Aleix’s charm, always enthusiastic no matter what they were doing. But this Sunday night was different, Aleix just curled into Jorge’s side and stayed quiet if it wasn’t for the occasional hand movement, Jorge would have assumed he was asleep. Jorge knew that Aleix had encounter Jack on the track and they had come to a collision with the later falling down, so he just chalked it off to someone making a stupid comment about it, after all Aleix would always passionately back himself in the media even if he ever made a mistake it was only alone with Jorge that he would ever admit to those mistakes.

Le Man came and went without much fanfare, they both got point scoring finishes and even with Jorge keeping an eye out for any changes in Aleix’s behaviour there were not any that were noticeable to him. 

But by the time Mugello rolled round and they got round to their Thursday night pre-race weekend meal together, Aleix’s had already shown 2 different changes to his usual demeanor. The first was more subtle and it was only because Jorge knew every habit that Aleix had since they got together over 5 years ago. Jorge had given Aleix a ring at the Catalan Grand Prix the year before, a promise that once their careers had ended in the sport and they were allowed the privacy in their lives that he would get down on one knee and propose properly to him. Aleix loved the ring and never took it off, his only compromise was that he never wore it on his ring finger to avoid suspicion, but whenever he was going through a rough or stressful patch, he would subconsciously reach for the ring and start to twist the ring round his finger. This was one of those times, from the moment they sat down, Aleix’s hand had been moving the ring round and had only stopped while they he was using his fork to eat, but as soon as the fork was put down the ring twisting had started again. 

The second was whenever anyone entered the food area, Aleix’s attention would turn to see who it was and looked as though he gave a sign of relief like he was dreading the appearance of someone.

“You expecting to see anyone?” Aleix almost jumped out of his seat at Jorge’s voice, like he had forgotten that he was sitting with company and not on his own.

“No, just trying seeing who’s about” If Jorge wasn’t so focused on Aleix, his voice would have disappeared underneath the noise of everyone else in the room. 

“If you’re in trouble with someone you can tell me and I can help you fix it” Jorge couldn’t think of another explanation for Aleix looking around so much but it appeared he had hit the nail on the head when, Aleix’s eyes doubled in size like a deer caught in headlights.

“N… No.. Not… Nothing like that” Aleix stammered to find the words to put Jorge’s mind at ease “Err… Pol just said he was going to play a prank and I didn’t want to be caught off guard. ”

Lying was never one of Aleix’s strong suits. Within the first week of Jorge knowing him, he had already learnt all of his tells. From his eyes doubling in size, to Aleix brushing his hand through his hair and little “Err” that was usually too quiet to hear but always appeared somewhere in the sentence. 

Once again Jorge repeated the gesture he had done in the little diner in Texas, reaching across the table to grab one of Aleix’s hands and give it a squeeze. “You can always talk to me about anything, I won’t judge you” 

“I know”

\------

The Catalan Grand Prix had always been a circuit that Aleix had loved, it was his true home GP and even though he had retired out of more races here than he had finished, he still had some great memories here. So it wasn’t really a surprise when every time Jorge saw Aleix he was smiling. He was smiling so much like he used to that Jorge almost forgot that he’d been a bit out of character recently, that was until Sunday night came round.

There wasn’t a clean shot of Aleix’s crash but when Jorge had seen the aftermath, he had to stop himself from crying. The image of Aleix having to be helped off the bike by his crew, were enough to make him run to Aleix’s motorhome. He knocked on Aleix’s door, however when there was no answer he pulled out his keys and used his spare to gain entry. It was pitch black inside, Jorge switched on the lights and swept through each room for any sign of his partner. Once he had checked every room with still no sign of Aleix. 

A quick phone call to Pol, which ended with him not having seen Aleix either and to let him know Aleix was safe when Jorge found him, left Jorge running all over the paddock. A search of the Aprilia motorhomes and tents, as well as all of Aleix’s secret spots turned up no sign of the man. The only place he hadn’t checked was his own motorhome, Aleix had a key but very rarely used it having usually been with Jorge whenever he needed to enter it. As he entered, all of the lights were off except the one in his bedroom. 

Aleix was laid under the duvet, with only his head and one of his arms peeked out. His arm would wipe at his face every few seconds, accompanied by muffled cries. Jorge pulled his shoes, jumper and jeans off before climbing in behind the other man, and pulling him into his arms. Almost on instinct Aleix relaxed into Jorge’s arms and pulled his arm so it was holding onto Jorge’s. 

Jorge left it for a few minutes before speaking, by which time Aleix’s sobs had died down. “What did the medical staff say?” 

“Knee Contusion, won’t know how bad until the swelling goes down”

“I saw your team help you off, how did you manage to get over here?” 

“Doctor told me to stop walking but he knew how stubborn we riders are and gave me a pair of crutches with a stern warning about only walking to my bed and getting someone else to help me. So I thought I’d come and see the only person in the paddock that would help me without judging me” 

“You mean you didn’t trust Pol not to let you steal your crutches” 

“Maybe, but you always tell me that you’re here for me and maybe just this once instead of wanting your help, I need your help.” 

“Always happy to help you, do you want me to go and get you anything? Food? Medicine?”

“No I’m good, I just need you to hold me. Help me forget about all the bad things that have happened this year.” 

“I can do that, just try and get some sleep. You’ll feel better for it in the morning”

Aleix turned over and pushed Jorge onto his back, before curling himself round Jorge and resting his head on his partner’s chest. A couple of minutes passed where Jorge thought Aleix was asleep and he was preparing to do the same when he heard Aleix’s whisper.

“Please don’t leave me. One day I’ll explain what’s been going on but right now I’m just scared. I don’t know what I’d do without you, so please just don’t go anywhere.”

“I will always be by your side.”

\-------

Assen was a disaster from start to finish for Jorge. He crashed, yet another injury to add to the growing list, and wrote off his whole weekend in the process. Yet more time to sit on the side lines watching everyone else while more questions built up about his future. Because of all this he didn’t even get the chance to see how Aleix was holding up, so he just left him a text to say he was flying out for surgery, that he wished him well for the rest of the weekend and he would text him when he comes out of surgery so Aleix wouldn’t have to worry about him. 

Next up was Sachsenring, where Jorge was forced to watch from home due to his fractured vertebrae. It was almost torture to him, not being able to be on the bike or near his boyfriend, but they both knew that his recovery was more important than anything in the paddock right now. 

They’d both agreed before the weekend that Aleix would ring each night after he had finished all of his team and media duties. Since Jorge had nothing else to look forward to the phone calls became a reason for him to get up each day, especially since Aleix wasn’t being feature much on the tv except when he was following Marc. 

Jorge was starting to fall asleep on the couch when the phone finally rang on Friday night. He launched himself over to his phone, desperate to answer before Aleix hung up. 

“Hey, how’s my favourite rider doing?” 

“Hey Jorge, I’m alright I suppose.”

“You’re not upset because you missed out on the top 10 by 5 thousandths are you?” 

“I should have made it in there, the bike was great it’s just me”

“What do you mean it’s you? You’re riding the bike great or you wouldn’t be so close.”

“No I’m not, if I could ride it better we’d always be in the top ten”

“Who’s been saying that Aleix? Because I know that’s not your words, you’d never be so dismissive of how talented you can be.”

“I’m just saying what everyone’s thinking”

“No you’re not. I don’t know who’s told you this but you are riding that bike better than anyone else can, so what if it’s not the expected results, you’re still out racing Andrea just like you’ve done with Scott and Sam. Don’t doubt yourself or I’ll have to fly over to Austria and convince you” 

“No Jorge, it’s fine you don’t have to fly over”

“Are you going to stop doubting yourself and appreciate how much closer you’ve got this weekend?”

“Anything for you Jorge”

For the rest of the phone call they talked out about anything and everything except racing. Jorge had never known Aleix to doubt himself like this so he added it to his list of their weird interactions this year. 

\------

The Czech grand Prix rolled around the corner and once again Jorge made the decision to sit on the sidelines at home rather than make the trip to the circuit. Coming off the summer break Aleix had gone back to his happy-go-lucky self after they finally got some time to themselves. He’d even gone back to the paddock with a smile on his face, the new parts that Aprilia had brought with them to Brno were clearly moving forward again which helped to relieve some of the pressure on Aleix to perform. 

All weekend he’d been showing decent form, that he could try and push like he had in Sachsenring before he crashed out, so Jorge had sat down to watch the race with confidence that he could get the performance that he so desperately needed. As expected the race started well with Aleix firmly in the points but as the race went on he slowly dropped places every few laps. It wasn’t until the final few laps that Andrea managed to pass his teammate and Jorge knew that Aleix’s head was still somewhere other than the race. It was the first time all season that Aleix had been beaten by his teammate, baring when he didn’t finish, and this did nothing to ease Jorge’s fears that something was seriously wrong with Aleix. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t think Aleix could cope with his problems himself, but that Aleix hadn’t confided in him about what was causing him to be so out of sorts. Watching the way that his problems were now overflowing onto his riding, Jorge knew that he didn’t have a choice but to figure it out himself. He wouldn’t have the chance to see Aleix again until Silverstone but he was going to make that when he did, it would be to solve the issues once and for all. 

\-------

Austria arrived and Jorge was still out of action, rumours were rife about where his future belonged but he didn’t care, that’s why he sent his manager to dispel them but it only made them worse. However once again Jorge was not focused on himself but on Aleix, after the last 2 races ended badly for him, he deserved a good result. 

The first drama of the weekend came in the form of his boyfriend’s brother who finally seemed to notice the changes in his brother. Unfortunately for Jorge, Pol believed Jorge was the one responsible for any changes in Aleix. After trying to calm Pol down and explain all of the little things that Aleix had done over the past couple of months, Pol promised to keep an eye on Aleix for him and inform him on anything he finds out. 

The next phone call came from a more surprising source, Andrea Iannone. Andrea informed Jorge about some of the rumors coming from inside the team. About Aleix’s data kept going missing, that some of the new parts that Aleix had been promised would then turn up on Andrea’s bike even when he didn’t want them. The biggest shock was that the news that Aleix had stopped talking to his mechanics and engineers outside of the sessions. When Jorge asked Andrea why he would tell him and not use it for a leg up in the team, Andrea’s only response was “I can’t beat him if he’s not racing.”

When Jorge’s manager also rang him about Aleix, Jorge was starting to get worried that maybe he had left it too late if so many people had started to notice all of Aleix’s differences. Apparently he had been on his way to find Aleix when he’d overheard Aleix’s crew chief, Miguel, shouting at him about not performing and that he wasn’t going to take the fall, that if one of them was losing their job it would be Aleix. However when their manager asked what the conversation was about Aleix had just shrugged it off as nothing and refused to talk about it. 

The last piece of the puzzle played out before his eyes. He was watching the practice sessions when the camera panned into the Aprilia garage, it was focused on Aleix’s bike but Jorge wasn’t looking at the bike, he was looking behind it to where Miguel was stood over Aleix. Miquel looked like he was angry and saying something to Aleix but he just looked so downcast and like whatever Miguel was saying was hitting him hard.

It all started to make sense, Miguel had been the reason behind Aleix’s behavior. He was the one Aleix was on the lookout for, he was the one denting Aleix’s confidence in himself and trying to damage his relationship with the team in the process. A crew chief was meant to always be around to help his rider so it was no surprise that Aleix didn’t want to talk about it in case Miguel found out and made things worse for him. That was the final straw for Jorge, he knew he had some phone calls to make to Miguel’s former riders to see what information he could dig up so he’d be ready for returning in Silverstone and finally fixing their problem.

\------  
Jorge made sure that he arrived at Silverstone hours before Aleix was scheduled to arrive. He knew that all the Aprilia team had arrived a day earlier than the riders would in town so they could set up the bikes and all the equipment so they could check it was all in order before the first practice on Friday morning. 

In the week and a half since Austria, Jorge’s anger against Aleix’s crew chief had not dispersed at all, instead it had just multiplied to the point where he spent every spare minute he had planning and preparing for what he was going to say when he confronted him. It wasn’t hard to find Miguel, everyone in the paddock knew that he always went for smoke breaks when all the engineers were at work, so it wasn’t a surprise to find him cigarette in hand round the corner of the Aprilia hospitality unit. 

Miguel didn’t even look up as Jorge approached him, and leant against the wall next to him. “Aleix sent you to fix his problems?” 

“No he doesn’t think I know what you’ve been doing to him.” 

Miguel snorted as he dropped his cigarette and stomped on it. “So what have I been doing to him?” 

“Don’t play stupid, I know you’ve been making digs at him all year, that you’ve make it look like you’ve been doing your job when instead you’re just been faking the data and you’ve been sabotaging his chances of performing by telling him not to pit instead of putting in fastest laps at the end of sessions.

Miguel turned to Jorge with narrowed eyes “How’d you figure that out?”

“I know Aleix and I know better than anything when somethings wrong. Plus I’ve had far too much time on my hands recently to finally put all the pieces together.”

“So what are you hear to pay me off so I start behaving? I may have done all of those things but you have no proof so I think you’ll find I can keep tormenting Aleix and there’s nothing you can do about it” 

“Oh really” Jorge reached into his back pocket to reveal his phone screen to Miguel “Every word you just said has just been caught on tape. I have the proof I need but I’m feeling nice so I’m going to offer you a deal. Either I hand this over to the media and your whole career is ruined and you’ll never step foot in the paddock again or hand your notice in to Aprilia, move teams for all I care but if you ever go near Aleix again I will release this to the media with other proof and statements I have from previous riders you’ve worked with.  
The choice is yours but I won’t ever let anyone hurt Aleix especially not someone as low as you, I don’t tolerate bullies.” 

Jorge held his breath as he tried to stay strong in front of a crew chief that now looked like he could quite happily kill him. A minute passed before Miguel’s face softened slightly. “Looks like Silverstone will be my last race with Aprilia, I’ll stay away from you and Aleix if you both stay the hell away from me. No getting involved in my business means me not getting involved in yours. Deal?” 

“Looks like you’ve got yourself a deal. But I’ll hold you to this, you break your side of the deal and I will break mine.”

Jorge held out his hand to Miguel, who begrudgingly shook it as a show of honor, before walking back inside the hospitality area. Releasing a breath Jorge didn’t even know he was holding, he started to make the walk back to his motorhome only to be greeted by a familiar face sat the couch inside.

“Aleix! I didn’t think you were getting here for another couple of hours.” 

“Clearly I wasn’t the only one that got here a bit early.” Jorge joined him on the couch as he was trying to decipher what mood Aleix was in but Aleix carried on speaking before he had the chance. “I heard you talking to Miguel. You didn’t have to get involved.” 

“I know but you didn’t want to talk to me about it and I couldn’t handle seeing you get more and more damaged as the year goes on. I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you first but I knew you wouldn’t want me to do anything.” 

Jorge watched Aleix waiting for a response, scared that maybe he’d gone too far. 

“Thank you. I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you about it, I guess I was just scared of dragging you down when you’re already having a tough year.” 

“I’m always here for you no matter what.” Jorge pulled Aleix into a hug and kissed the top of his forehead. “From now until the end of time, I will always be by your side, no one is going to tear us apart.”


End file.
